Iceland: Camera Kit and Photos

You’d be mad not to take a camera to Iceland. There are simply too many spectacular things to point one at.

The main thing to bear in mind is the sharp, insidious, volcanic dust.

We were “lucky” that it rained (and rained, and rained) and so had none blown at us.

At the end of the walk we met a French father and son who’d just completed a North to South trek that finished along our route (I imagine it was similar to Jonathan Ley’s).

They had walked through the tail-end of the hottest summer on record for Iceland and showed me a very nice lens that, despite precautions, had suffered from dust ingression and made a horrible grinding noise as you adjusted it.

We met many people who were carrying large, expensive cameras but in some cases only barely adequate waterproofing. You need to be able to submerge the camera without damage. Imagine dropping your pack if you stumble during a river crossing. And the rain often comes from all directions at once and will find its way up under the soft, padded lid of even the best Lowe Pro case.

The next time I will also consider taking something to shield the camera from rain and dust whilst in use. The OP Tech Rainsleeve looks very interesting.

The other issue was batteries. One of us actually ran out before the end of the walk which was frustrating since we had lots of spare batteries between us but none that fitted his camera.

The EOS 400D that I use lasted roughly three days or more on a single battery whilst I knocked off around 600 frames during that time. The main thing to bear in mind is that there is simply nowhere to charge them on this route.

The one thing I very much regret was not carrying the extra weight of a proper tripod. Balancing the camera on top of the pack helped but it’s no substitute of course.

I’m considering a Gitzo Mountaineer but the extra weight is almost as frightening as the price (bear in mind that it also needs a head to actually attach the camera – thereby increasing the weight, and price).

But, never mind the kit -what about the pictures?

Here’s a very small selection of the pictures that LB and I took on the trip.

Those photos are superb. I looked through them all open-mouthed. What an incredible country. Definitely on the must-visit list now.

I bought a tripod a couple of months ago and haven’t looked back. 500g including the mount for the grand price of Y830 (about 5 quid). Made in China of course, smells like a chemical factory and is quite likely highly carcinogenic. But it does the job..